Blustery Monday

PINK ON PARADE: Today was the fall quarter's family-gets-to-watch day for Annabelle's ballet class.

It worked out that Rick was able to join us for the big show. Boy was Annabelle happy. She told all of her classmates over and over and over that her biggest brother Rick was there today. Pretty cute.


It's nice to see some new complexity to the lessons - she's definitely come a long way since her 3-year-old ballet classes.


A couple of times today the teacher referred to Annabelle as the "dance captain" and the "senior student." It made us all smile.


Of course after class we reminded Annabelle those titles come with some responsibility. She needs to set a good example for others. We also reminded her that it doesn't mean she's the boss. ;)

FUNNY FACES: Thanks to some thoughtful family (and MPA blog readers), the kids got a super fun Halloween card to play with. It came with three blank faces and lots of fun removable stickers. They had a blast creating kooky, spooky creatures! (Thanks, Ruthie & Bob!)
MATH ADDS UP: We ended up doing a fair amount of math today, probably because I felt so crappy (day five of a horrifically painful cough, body aches and a low grade fever), I couldn't muster anything more taxing or creative.

First, we completed another exercise in Singapore Math, dealing with adding three digit numbers. The kids had no trouble.


On a couple of problems, the ones, tens and hundreds all added up to the same number (say, 7), but the kids had to add the appropriate number of zeros. CJ really liked those problems and said someday he's going to write a book called "The Bigger Number Belt" that's all about problems like that. I'm sure it will make the New York Times bestseller list. :)


Next, we hopped to BrainPop, where we watched a good video about comparing prices. Before I played the video, I said to the kids, "Do you realize that every time we go shopping, we're doing math?" They both seemed surprised. I asked them if they knew what 'compare' meant. Annabelle gave an example that if there are two types of apples we like, we would look at their prices and buy the less expensive one. Bingo! That's comparing.


I told the kids there are other non-math examples of comparing. For instance, I pointed out to CJ he's forever comparing one video game to another (their soundtracks, their difficulty, their graphics, etc.).


Lastly, we read "Double the Ducks," part of the MathStart series. The main character was a cowboy who had five ducks, whom he fed a certain amount of grain, and so on. However, one day each duck brought a friend home and suddenly he had to have twice as much food, etc. It was a good demonstration of the "double" concept.


As the kids were reading the book, they both started reading with a drawl, like cowboys (so as to better represent the main character). It was amusing.


Oh, and speaking of reading books, we also read three more chapters of the Bill Gates bio. Much of it was about what a ruthless businessman Gates is. This book is definitely more warts-and-all than I'm used to in a kids' picture book. I like it.



SEW WHAT?: We are eyebrow deep into a big sewing project for Halloween. We're making a Princess Peach dress for Annabelle. It's very poofy-who woulda thought a short sleeved dress for a 6 year old would take FIVE yards of 60-inch wide fabric?!


This mark's Annabelle's first experience with laying and cutting out a pattern. She seemed to think the process was going way too slowly. I told her that the more careful we are cutting it out, the better the finished product will be.


We've got the bodice, sleeves, skirt, collar and bottom hem done. The zipper is in (but I need to fix about 3 inches of it :/, darn it. We 'just' have the crown left to do, as well as a blue jewel pendant and a puffy pink fabric overlay for the hips/waistline (bet there's a name for that part on a dress - funny I've never heard them mention the term on 'Project Runway').

WEEKEND REWIND: Yesterday afternoon, Christian took the kids to Seattle Center to ROBOTHON 2010. There, they watched robots battle it out in cage matches. Christian said some of the crashes were brutal, with sparks and all. How cool is that!?!

BRR: It was cold and wet today. The high was only 50 and the low as 10 degrees below that. It felt downright wintery!